Golf club makers may use slightly different manufacturing processes. Some parts of the manufacturing process may be unique to one company and regarded as trade secrets. Regardless of the type of process, woods, which may be drivers, fairway woods, and hybrid style clubs, generically “woods,” are typically designed the same. Throughout this application, “club head” and “wood head” may be used interchangeably. The head is comprised of a sole (bottom), skirt (about the periphery), a crown (top) and a face (the hitting surface). Formed in the crown and adjacent, and attached to, the skirt is a hosel, which receives the club shaft. The hosel is typically constructed within the periphery of the skirt. When a club is swung, it rotates about the longitudinal axis of the club shaft, and hence the hosel. The speed of rotation is greater as the distance increases along an axis perpendicular to the horizontal axis of the club shaft. In conventional woods the center of gravity is positioned in the vicinity of the longitudinal axis of its club shaft, at some midpoint of the club head, and separated from the horizontal axis of the shaft. The stability of the wood head is adequate because of the relation between the point of application of force, the hosel, and the center of gravity since the axial moment of inertia about the shaft is small. Maximum force is imparted to a golf ball by impacting the wood head where the center of gravity projects to the face of the club. Club manufacturers endeavor to adjust the center of gravity of the club head by placing weights interior to the club head so as to move the center of gravity from the hosel without materially affecting the stability and feel of the club.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,526 teaches a club head wherein the hosel is extended from the club head in order to increase the axial moment of inertia. Additionally, the '526 patent discloses a club head in which the hosel is a continuation of, and integral to, the crown of the club head. Both the club face and the soleplate are connected to the neck/hosel. However, any benefits derived from increasing the moment of inertia are lost due to an increase in vibration and loss of stability.
The present invention is designed to minimize these problems while increasing the axial moment of inertia of the club head.